Why power dialling is essential for random-number polls

You cannot run serious random-number research by asking agents to dial every number by hand. Too many generated numbers do not exist.

Sometimes forty numbers find one person

When the number quality is poor, the system may need to try around forty numbers to produce one live voice for an agent. Hand dialling would waste most of the shift on dead lines.

The pace follows the list

We do not use one fixed amount of dialling. A good list may need only around 1.2 attempts per available agent. A poor or heavily worked list needs more. We adapt to the live contact rate rather than blindly over-dialling.

Research lists are not customer lists

This harder dialling belongs to polling and random-number research. People who are customers, existing donors or social-media hand-raisers must be treated differently because an existing relationship can be damaged by careless contact.